Potato sorter and cleaner



(No Model.)

.J- A. MITCHELL. POTATO SORTER A ND CLEANER.

No. 552,538. Patented Jan. '7, 1896.

' State of Iowa, have invented a new and use- Nirn TATES JUSTUS A. lllITCHELL, OF ORILLIA, I Oll A.

POTATO SO RTER AND CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,538, dated January 7, 1896.

Application filed March 12, 1895. serial No. 541,511. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J Us'lUs A. MITCHELL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Orillia, in the county of Warren and ful Potato Cleaner and Sorter, of which the following is a specification.

My object is to provide a simple, strong, durable and portable machine adapted to be manually operated in the field or elsewhere for rubbing potatoes together to remove adherin g ground therefrom and also to separate the large and small potatoes.

My invention consists in the arrangement and combination'of parts, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional View, and Fig. 2 a perspective View, of my in vention. A portion of one side of the box is broken away in Fig. 2'to disclose the lower series of fixed rods.

' The letterA designates a box composed of mating parallel sides B and B and an end piece 0 fixed to their top ends. The length and width of the box may vary, and it is preferably made of wooden boards.

D and D are standards fixed to the top and closed end portion of the box, and F and F are shorter standards fixed to the lower and open end portion of the box.

II and II are semioval or elliptical rockers fixed to the ends of the box and the lower ends of the standards to produce a rigid frame and support for the complete device upon which the box can be readily moved about and manually rocked for the purpose of cleaning and sorting potatoes. A box provided with screens and an open lower end is thus mounted on a line or plane that is inclined to the major axis of the ellipse of the rockers, so that the screens will, in their normal condition, stand inclined to be operatad advantageously for cleaning and sorting potatoes.

A series of heavy straight wires or rods J are fixed in parallel position, and about three fourths of an inch apart, to the bottom portion of the end piece 0 at the top of the box and to a cross-piece C fixed to the lower end portions and bottom edges of the sides B and B A corresponding series of Wires K are fixed to the top end piece 0 in a plane some space above the series J and to a cross-piece C fixed to the lower ends of the parallel sides B and B and about two inches apart, and in such a manner that the upper series K will project some distance beyond the lower ends of the series of rods J.

The two series of parallel rods fixed in different planes and at different spaces apart 6o greatly facilitate the labor of cleaning and sorting potatoes.

In the practical operation of my invention potatoes are thrown in the box and upon the upper series of rods K. Small ones will pass downward to rest upon the lower series of rods J. If ground adheres to them it can be readily separated therefrom by depressing the elevated end of the machine and then simply rocking the machine so that the potatoes will roll about and rub against each other, and at the same time all the potatoes small enough to pass down between the upper rods K will drop and thus become separated from the larger ones retained on top of the rods K, and 7 5 after the potatoes are thus cleaned and sorted they can be readily emptied into separate vessels or upon separate heaps 011 the ground by elevating the upper and closed end of the box A high enough to allow all the potatoes on the two series of fixed rods to roll off therefrom.

It is obvious that by thus operating the machine with its upper end depressed so as to keep the screens approximately level the potatoes thereon can be retained and cleaned upon the screens before the machine is allowed to assume its normal position as required to allow the potatoes to roll off from the screens.

I am aware screens have been placed in parallel planes in a frame, and frames having 0 single screens have been mounted upon rockers and adapted for screening grain; but my machine, adapted for cleaning dirt from potatoes and sorting potatoes by simply rocking the machine, is novel and greatly advan- 5 tageous in facilitating the work of removing ground from potatoes and separating large and small ones.

I claim as my invention A portable machine adapted to be manually 10o operated to rub and clean potatoes and separate the large and small ones, comprising an oblong box open at its top and bottom and at one end, short standards fixed to its open end portionandlongerstandardsfixedtoits closed first series and a second cross piece at the portion, rockers fixed to the standards and open end of the box, to operate in the manner box, a series of rods fixed in parallel position set forth.

to the bottom of the closed end portion of the J USTUS A. MITCHELL. box and a fixed cross piece at the open end itnesses:

of the box, a second series of rods fixed to the REUBEN G. ORWIG,

closed end of the box in a plane above the THOMAS G. ORWIG. 

